Lendy, the P2P secured property lending platform, has published its audited accounts for 2016, showing profits before tax rising to £3.3m compared to £53,000 in 2015, while turnover increased 224% over the same period, going from £9m to £29.2m.

Since its launch in 2012, Lendy has returned £36m in interest to investors who have made loans through its platform, along with £141.5m in repayments of principal to investors.

Lendy has so far written almost £367m in loans secured against property, while its current outstanding loans amount to £186.5m.

The Lendy platform offers lenders loans with a range of risk/reward ratios, with interest set at between 7% and 12%. The company never lends at LTVs above 70%, with the majority below 60%.

2016 was a year of significant progress for Lendy in terms of growth, both in terms of new investors joining the platform, and value of new loans written. This success continued in 2017, helping to establish Lendy as one of Europe’s leading P2P secured property lending platforms.

In 2017, Lendy appointed a new legal panel comprising three top 100 law firms, and a new panel of RICS-registered valuers with significant professional indemnity insurance cover. In addition, the platform instituted a new credit committee process, including an analysis of the borrowers’, sponsors’, and other principal parties’ experience, credit record, business plan and financial projections and forecasts.

Lendy also appointed top 10 accountancy firm Moore Stephens as its auditor. The firm was selected for its experience in working for fast-growing financial services businesses.

Liam Brooke, director and co-founder of Lendy, says: “2016 was a very strong one for Lendy, with growth in both turnover and profits, which has been built on in 2017. Our balance sheet is more robust, and our growth has been closely controlled. We’ve also experienced growth in every area of the business. All of that has made us one of the few profitable P2P platforms.

“We have put a huge amount of focus over the past year on the loans we offer to our lenders. And our due diligence, in many cases, exceeds that of major banks.”

Looking ahead

With over 19,500 lenders now registered on the Lendy platform, the company’s capacity to lend is at an all-time high. Lendy is one of the very few lenders that is able to quickly turn around loans of more than £10m, and looks forward to writing more loans of that size in the coming months.

Liam Brooke continues: “Continuing to make improvements to our due diligence process is also a key target for us. We made some major hires last year from institutional financial services backgrounds to help us to implement this programme.

“In fact, in 2018 we have already added Andrew Wawrzyniak as Head of Finance, who will continue to help us improve key areas such as loan origination, due diligence, and risk management.

“We are also really excited about our second Lendy Cowes Week, which takes place from August 4 to 11 2018. It promises to be even bigger and better than last year for the crews and spectators joining us on the Isle of Wight. And we’re keen to make it a showcase of the alternative finance sector, which we believe will help drive the post-Brexit UK economy.”